Ethical aspects

More and more countries are introducing different kinds of ethical rules to protect the integrity of their citizens. Many of those rules relate to the recording of personal data, and some of them apply to research activities. From an ESPAD perspective, ethical rules may, for example, entail a requirement to obtain the approval of an ethics committee or the consent of parents. According to Table B, the approval of an ethics committee was asked for and obtained in 13 countries in 2015.

The ESPAD guidelines emphasise that ESPAD surveys should be confidential and anonymous. It is also important for students to be informed that answering the questionnaire is voluntary. In addition, it is the responsibility of each research team to comply with all national laws, regulations and guidelines concerning research ethics. According to Table B, all countries stated that they followed their national ethical rules when collecting the data.

It was necessary to obtain some form of parental consent in roughly three quarters of the countries. Normally, passive consent was sufficient, but for three countries active parental consent was required. According to Table C, 0.5 % (0.0-1.5 %) of the students could not take part in the study due to parental refusal in countries where only passive consent was needed. In Georgia, Portugal and Romania active parental consent was demanded, which resulted in higher refusal rates. According to the standard instructions, the students are informed that the study is voluntary. On average, 0.5 % (0.0-1.5 %) of the students present in the classrooms refused to take part in the survey.

a Regardless of birth year. Percentages calculated from classroom reports.b Sweden included a third option to the question on gender (not able to specify gender belonging). Discarded questionnaires also includes students stating this option.c Reduction in ‘relevin’: results for Austria and France refer to all students born in 1999, not only the ESPAD sample since further cases are removed when new weightings are introduced in the final data.d Official name former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.